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George Benjamin’s Duet at National Symphony Orchestra

Nov. 01, 2011

George Benjamin’s Duet at National Symphony Orchestra

The National Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Oliver Knussen, brings George Benjamin’s Duet for piano and orchestra to the Kennedy Center for an extraordinary program shared with works of Messiaen, Shepherd, and Stravinsky. Pianist Peter Serkin joins the orchestra for three performances of Benjamin’s piano concerto, November 3-5.

Duet, a Roche Commission for George Benjamin’s 2008 residency at the Lucerne Festival, was premiered in August 2008 by pianist Pierre-Laurent Aimard and The Cleveland Orchestra under the direction of Franz Welser-Möst. The piece is Benjamin’s first for piano and orchestra and is characteristic for its avoidance of what he describes as a “problematic mixture of sonorities.” He continues:

The piano is an extraordinary instrument – it’s also my instrument – but it’s a problem in combination with the orchestra. Everybody knows that each note on the piano dies immediately, and at different speeds: the high notes die quicker, and the low ones last longer. It’s for that reason that I’ve left the violins out entirely in the orchestra, partly because I don’t want a big, beefy 19th-century heroic discourse, and because I really don’t like the sound of the violin with the piano. There’s a real problem putting the high piano with the high strings, because of their different capacities to sustain notes, but also tuning-wise, the piano is such a different animal.

Duet displays a careful adjustment of both the orchestra and the piano that results in a perfect pairing of complimentary sonorities. In a digression from the Romantic sense of concerti, the piano in this work is often reduced to single lines that are matched by percussion, harp, harmonics, and pizzicati.

Find more details on the program at www.kennedy-center.org.

To learn more about George Benjamin and his music, visit www.fabermusic.com.

George Benjamin
Duet (2008)
for piano and orchestra
2(2.pic)2.3(3.bcl)2(2.cbsn)-2231-timp.3perc-hp.cel.str(0.0.8.8.6)
14'

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